Comparative Study of Methane Production in a One-Stage vs. Two-Stage Anaerobic Digestion Process from Raw Tomato Plant Waste

Graciela M. L. Ruiz-Aguilar, Hector G. Nuñez-Palenius, Nanh Lovanh and Sarai Camarena-Martínez ()
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Graciela M. L. Ruiz-Aguilar: Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales, División Ciencias de la Vida, Campus Irapuato-Salamanca, Universidad de Guanajuato, Irapuato 36500, Mexico
Hector G. Nuñez-Palenius: Departamento de Agronomía, División Ciencias de la Vida, Campus Irapuato-Salamanca, Universidad de Guanajuato, Irapuato 36500, Mexico
Nanh Lovanh: Food Animal Environmental Systems Research, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Bowling Green, KY 42101, USA
Sarai Camarena-Martínez: Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales, División Ciencias de la Vida, Campus Irapuato-Salamanca, Universidad de Guanajuato, Irapuato 36500, Mexico

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 23, 1-12

Abstract: An anaerobic digestion process performed in two stages has the advantages of the production of hydrogen in addition to methane, and of further degradation of the substrate over the conventional process. The effectiveness of the implementation of this system for the treatment of lignocellulosic waste has been demonstrated. In 2020, more than 180 million tons of organic waste were generated worldwide from tomato crop production, posing a serious environmental risk. In the present investigation, methane production was compared in a two-stage system versus one-stage system from non-pretreated tomato plant residues. For this, different temperature (37 and 55 °C) and initial pH (5.5 and 6.5) conditions were evaluated during hydrogenesis and a constant temperature (37 °C, without pH adjustment) during methanogenesis. At the same time, a one-stage treatment (37 °C, without pH adjustment) was run for comparison purposes. The two-stage treatment in which the highest production of hydrogen, 12.4 mL/g VS, and methane, 252.3 mL/g VS, was observed occurred under the conditions of pH 6.5 and at 37 °C. However, this energy production was statistically similar ( p < 0.5) to the one-stage treatment (365.4 mL CH 4 /g VS). Furthermore, there were also no significant differences in the removal of volatile solids between the different treatments.

Keywords: two-stage; one-stage; anaerobic digestion; hydrogen; methane; tomato plant waste (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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